"When Life Doesn't Make Sense," trust God

It was about five years ago that my wife, Carolyn, and I struggled to decide whether or not to accept the invitation to pastor LifePointe Church in the heart of Fallbrook.

It was a difficult decision. We were very comfortable back in our hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In many ways, it did not make much sense. My wife, Carolyn, headed the local pregnancy resource center, and I pastored a remarkable and loving church that was growing rapidly and had just finished a major building program. It seemed as if we knew everyone in town, and as I said, we were comfortable.

And then one day God showed me that He had not called me "to be comfortable."

The key moment for me came when I was visiting the presidential museum of another Grand Rapids native, former President Gerald R. Ford. I was alone as I wandered outside onto the grounds to visit his gravesite. In the solitude of that haven, I saw etched on his stone monument one of his favorite passages from the Bible. They were verses that had given him strength as he labored with the difficult decisions only he could make after the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Although I knew those verses well, it was as if God was issuing a challenge to me ... a challenge to trust him even if I didn't understand what he was doing. I left the museum with a new awareness of how God moves. When God calls us to do something, too often we fail to do it because it doesn't make sense to us; we "lean on our own understanding." God tells us clearly to trust him even if we don't understand his purposes.

As I said earlier, we were "comfortable" back in Michigan. But, I realized that God does not call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust him and be "obedient." One of my favorite sayings is that I want to experience God doing the "unexplainable." I've learned that in order for that to happen we need to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding."

Carolyn and I are now able understand better why God called us to Fallbrook. She is now the director of the Fallbrook Pregnancy Resource Center, and we love the people of Fallbrook. And we're even starting to get comfortable again.